William Neville (poet)

William Neville

Modern Pinvin, Worcestershire, where William Neville once resided
Spouse(s) Elizabeth Greville

Issue

  • Richard Neville
  • Mary Neville
  • Susan Neville
Noble family House of Neville
Father Richard Neville, 2nd Baron Latimer
Mother Anne Stafford
Born 15 July 1497
Died c. 1545 (aged 4748)

William Neville (15 July 1497 – c. 1545) of Penwyn and Wyke Sapie, Worcestershire, was the son of Richard Neville, 2nd Baron Latimer, and the author of The Castell of Pleasure. In 1532 he was accused of treason and dabbling in magic.

Family

William Neville, born 15 July 1497, was the second son of Richard Neville, 2nd Baron Latimer, and Anne Stafford, daughter of Sir Humphrey Stafford of Grafton, Worcestershire, and Katherine Fray (12 May 1482), the daughter of Sir John Fray, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, by Agnes Danvers (d. June 1478), the daughter of Sir John Danvers (died c.1448). William Neville had five brothers and six sisters:[1]

After the death of Anne Stafford, Neville's father married, by licence dated 5 July 1502, Margaret (d. 16 December 1521), the widow of Sir James Strangways.[10]

Career

According to Edwards, Neville may have served in the household of Cardinal Wolsey in his youth. From 1524 on he was from time to time a commissioner of the peace for Worcestershire. He held lands in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, some of which had been bequeathed to him and to his wife by her father, Sir Giles Greville. During the late 1520s and 1530s these were the subject of litigation.[11]

In December 1532 Thomas Wood accused Neville of treason, alleging he had prophesied the King's death, and that he himself would become Earl of Warwick. In addition there were other allegations that Neville had dabbled in magic, including the claim that at one time 'he tried to make himself a cloak of invisibility of two layers of linen with one between of buckskin, the whole to be treated with a mixture in which horse bones, skin, chalk, rosin and powdered glass were the chief ingredients.’[12] His former chaplain, Edward Legh, made similar allegations in March 1533.[11] It appears Neville, and his brothers George and Christopher, who were also drawn into the investigation, escaped from these charges relatively unscathed.[13] In 1534 Neville petitioned Thomas Cromwell, claiming that owing to great losses he was so impoverished that he could not afford to go to law to obtain redress of wrongs done to him.[11]

Neville wrote The Castell of Pleasure, an allegorical work in which a dreamer, Desire, is led by Morpheus to a castle where he encounters Beauty and other allegorical personages. On waking the dreamer laments the changeableness of human affairs. The poem is prefaced and followed by verses by Robert Copland. The Castell of Pleasure is said to have been influenced by the poems of Stephen Hawes. It was published by Henry Pepwell in 1518, and by Wynkyn de Worde in about 1530.[11]

The date of William Neville's death is unknown. By 1545 his estates were in the possession of his son, Richard.[11]

Marriage and issue

Neville married, before 1 April 1529, as her second husband, Elizabeth Greville, widow of Richard Wye of the Temple, and only daughter and heir of Sir Giles Greville (d. 1 April 1528), of Wick, Worcestershire, Comptroller of the Household to Princess Mary, and Chamberlain of South Wales, and his wife Anne Rede, the daughter of Sir William Rede of Boarstall, Buckinghamshire. William Neville and Elizabeth Greville had a son and two daughters:[14]

After the death without male issue of William Neville's elder brother, John Neville, 4th Baron Latimer, William Neville's son, Richard Neville (d. 27 May 1590), wrongfully assumed the title of Baron Latimer, as did Richard's son, Edmund Neville, after Richard's death.[20]

Footnotes

  1. Richardson I 2011, pp. 119–20; Richardson III 2011, pp. 2–4; Macnamara 1895, pp. 101, 102, 144, 150.
  2. Cokayne 1929, p. 483.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Burke 1866, p. 398.
  4. Ford 2004; Burke 1866, p. 398.
  5. Richardson I 2011, pp. 336–8; Richardson II 2011, p. 269; Burke 1866, p. 398.
  6. Gouws 2004.
  7. Richardson IV 2011, pp. 12–13; Burke 1866, p. 398.
  8. Burlinson 2004; Lowe 2004.
  9. Hicks 2004; Burke 1866, p. 398.
  10. Richardson I 2011, p. 119.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Edwards 2004.
  12. Elton 1972, p. 50.
  13. Elton 1972, p. 55.
  14. Edwards 2004; Burke 1866, p. 398; Bindoff 1982, p. 609.
  15. Cokayne suggests this may be Wick Sapey or Upper Wick in St. John in Bedwardine, a manor held by the Ardens of Park Hall; Cokayne 1959, p. 560.
  16. Cokayne states that Barbara was the daughter of Thomas Arden.
  17. Archbold 1885-90, p. 249; Cokayne 1959, pp. 559–61; Loomie 2004; Richardson III 2011, p. 3.
  18. Fetherston 1877, pp. 73, 181–2.
  19. Stopes 1901, pp. 175–6.
  20. Cokayne 1929, p. 486; Cokayne 1959, p. 560.

References

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